Studies in Galatians 4

Some people use Galatians 4 to teach that the body of Christ (church) inherits Israel's kingdom because of 4:26, "Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. " 

Others use Galatians 4 to teach that Old Testaments saints were "born again" like that of John chapter three. (they base this on 4:29 "him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now ")

Both of those ideas are wrong.

Galatians 4:

[21] Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
[22] For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
[23] But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
[24] Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
[25] For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
[26] But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
[27] For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
[28] Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
[29] But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
[30] Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
[31] So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

In this ALLEGORY (unwise to try and establish a doctrine based on a figurative passage):

Hagar = the old covenant, the earthly Jerusalem in bondage

Ishmael = those born after the flesh

Sarah = the new covenant, the heavenly Jerusalem which is free

Isaac = those born after the Spirit

“mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, WHICH IS AGAR”

“But Jerusalem, which is above is free, WHICH IS THE MOTHER OF US ALL” (i.e. Sarah)

Paul is not saying that the heavenly Jerusalem is our mother. He is saying that Sarah, who represents the Jerusalem which is above, is our mother. Abraham is “the father of us all” (Rom. 4:16). Abraham is said to be our father in the spiritual sense that we receive righteousness from God by faith as he did. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, is our mother in the spiritual sense that her son, Isaac, represents those that are born after the Spirit. We are not under the new covenant but we are born after the Spirit like those who will be brought under the new covenant.

 

Galatians 4 is the only passage that says "born AFTER the Spirit". It is also called "an ALLEGORY". I wouldn't use an allegory to prove that OT saints were born again. When was Ishmael born after the flesh? When he was physically born. When was Isaac born after the Spirit? When he was physically born. Not when he got "saved". Isaac was born after the Spirit because he was the child of promise. God supernaturally enabled Sarah to have him (though not virgin birth). The application is that we too are children of promise. But Isaac was not regenerated as we are (Titus 3:5). In the allegory Ishmael pictures the self righteous religious seed of Abraham that were trying to be justified by their flesh. Just as Ishmael persecuted Isaac, so it is now that the religious persecute the righteous. Paul was NOT saying that as Isaac was born after the Spirit "even so it is now". He was talking about the persecution. 

 

(Thanks to Pastor David O'Steen for giving me this information.) 

 

--Eli "Hoss" Caldwell